All Evidence Agreed... Review of Forged Electronic Records
[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] A public official at Gangdong-gu Office in Seoul, who was indicted for embezzling 11.5 billion KRW of public funds, admitted to the charges.
The Criminal Division 12 of the Seoul Eastern District Court (Presiding Judge Lee Jong-chae) held the first trial session at 10 a.m. on the 21st for Kim Mo (48), who is accused of violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (embezzlement in the course of duty) and forgery of official documents.
Kim admitted to the charges and did not make any additional statements. He agreed to all the evidence presented by the prosecution. It was reported that Kim submitted eight letters of apology to the court the day before.
However, the court saw the need to reconsider some of the charges. The court pointed out that if Kim accessed the electronic approval system and forged it, the charge might be electronic record forgery rather than official document forgery.
The charge of 'electronic record forgery' refers to the act of forging documents created by a public official or electronic records of a public office or other special media records with the intent to disrupt official duties. If convicted, it is a serious crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Meanwhile, according to the prosecution, Kim embezzled funds for the construction of the Resource Circulation Center while working in the Investment Attraction Division of Gangdong-gu Office from December 2019 to February last year. He managed the office’s official account and transferred a total of 11.5 billion KRW in public funds to his personal account 236 times, with up to 500 million KRW per day. It was confirmed that Kim used the funds arbitrarily for personal purposes such as stock investments and repaying personal debts.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.


